


Al'mik'toa

by scimm



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-08-27 15:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16705267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scimm/pseuds/scimm
Summary: “I’m the commander of this facility, we’ve brought you here because you possess something that belongs to us.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up from a nightmare of a dream in September. Creative freedom made it into a story about Sam with a little dash of ship. This is my first attempt at writing fanfic, all mistakes are my own.  
> 

**Chapter 1**

Pain. Pain was all there was right now. For how long had she been lying here? Sam opened her eyes a bit. The light in her cell was dimmed. She’d give them that.

Her back hurt, instinctively she tried to move and was instantly reminded of the wire that chained her right wrist to the wall.

Clever design, by the way. They could remotely control how much she was able to move around in her cell by changing the length of the wire. A curtain track like system made sure she didn’t get too much room to roam.

At first, they hadn’t restricted her movement in the cell. The young guard probably still regretted that.

\- o - o - o - 

It was supposed to be a routine mission, what Colonel O’Neill had referred to as “a walk in the park, Carter”.

The planet SG-1 had gated to was uninhabited and had been for a long time. They had followed a path through a scenic landscape with mountains in the horizon before arriving at a small temple.

Daniel had begun studying the inscriptions on the temple walls, Sam had found the device described as _very alien_ by the SG team who had scouted the planet. Teal’c had done what Teal’c usually did best: walked around outside the temple, guarding, observing, and keeping an eye out for them.

An hour had past. The Colonel, obviously bored, hovered nearby playing with his yoyo.

_“Hey Carter, what do you say, as soon as we’re done here and back on Earth, you join me for a weekend of fishing and relaxation in Minnesota?”_

Sam had smiled at him. “ _As much as I’d like that, Sir, I have made other plans for the weekend already.”_

He’d looked disappointed for a second. Sam couldn’t blame him, after all it wasn’t the first time she’d declined an invitation to go fishing. It just couldn’t be, spending time alone together at a remote cabin could very well disrupt the carefully constructed wall she’d managed to put up between _The Colonel_ and _Jack_. ~~~~

 _“Each to their own, Carter, each to their own.”_ And he’d returned his attention to the yoyo.

Sam had resumed studying the alien device, using her instruments to record the strange energy readings emanating from it.

Suddenly it had begun humming, Sam wasn’t quite sure what had caused it, she had been careful not to touch anything as the Colonel dryly had reminded her before they entered the temple. The humming transformed into a loud _swooshing_ sound, there had been a flash of light and then… darkness.

\- o - o - o -

Then it hit her, Daniel was dead. And she had caused it by not following the orders from her capturers. A bout of nausea overwhelmed her, almost making her throw up. Daniel wad dead.

Sam drank a little water. The pain finally subsided. Carefully she touched the node placed at the base of her skull.

 _“I advise you don’t try and remove it,”_ the alien Sam had named the Doctor had said. _“Or else you’ll die a slow and painful death.”_

Sam had believed him. The scientist in her wondered how it worked, how it was possible so delicately to simulate and control nerve signals. The soldier in her wanted to rip it out, step on it and then shoot what was left of it into pieces.

Sam heard rustling by the door. She mentally tried to prepare herself for what was about to happen. The guard came for her, released her from the wire only to restrain her wrists behind her back.

He took her to the Doctor’s lab, put her in the padded chair and restrained her wrists and ankles, making escape impossible. The guard left and then she waited.

\- o - o - o -

Sam had woken up, sitting on a cold metal chair. An unfamiliar, dark haired man with round wire frame glasses had been standing in front of her, wearing what looked like some kind of uniform.

_“Glad to see you’re finally awake. Welcome, make yourself comfortable.”_

_“Not so easy with my hands tied behind my back.”_

He’d come closer. _“You better lose the attitude.”_

Sam had looked him in the eye, gotten to her feet, head butted him and planted her right knee between his legs, sending him to the floor, howling.

She’d turned towards the young guard who had fired a single shot at her, a ball of red light, causing her muscles to stop responding, making her fall to the ground, head first.

\- o - o - o -

Sam knew the lab well by now. Gray cabinets lining the walls, drawers, the Doctor’s desk, his chair. The instrument they hooked her up to. The huge monitor hanging on the wall in front of her. The monitor where she’d watched Daniel die.

The nausea returned along with feelings of helplessness and sorrow, there would be no coming back from this one, she’d felt his heart stop, somehow connected to his nervous system via the node.

Sam closed her eyes. At first, she had thought she was the only member of SG-1 the aliens had captured. It had been a shock to see Daniel on the monitor, kept in a cell that looked like hers. Were Teal’c and the Colonel also there, somewhere?

Just like the other days, the facility was surprisingly quiet. Sam had been held in her share of alien prisons, where noise from other prisoners and guards displaying their dominance and power wasn’t unusual. It didn’t make Sam feel any better to know she might be their only prisoner.

\- o - o - o -

Sam had regained consciousness, head pounding. Someone was yelling:

 _“Do you have any idea how long time it took us to prepare this mission? To gather the information that made it possible for us to plant the device and capture her?”_ It had sounded like the man who had bid her welcome, he was angry.

_“But, you…”_

_“DO NOT RISK DAMAGING HER HEAD, is that understood?”_

_“Yes, Commander.”_

_“Now leave us alone.”_

The guard had left, almost running.

_“You can open your eyes, Major Carter, I know you’re awake.”_

Sam had opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the bright light, discovering she had been taken to a different room. The feeling in her limbs came back, making her register both wrists and ankles were restrained. The dark haired man had been standing in front of her and she’d allowed herself a moment of satisfaction knowing she had hit him hard before realizing he knew who she was. This could mean trouble.

_“I’m the commander of this facility, we’ve brought you here because you possess something that belongs to us.”_

_“This must be some kind of mistake.”_

_“Believe me, this is not a mistake, and I suggest you begin cooperating immediately.”_

\- o - o - o -

The Doctor arrived along with his assistant.

“Good morning, Samantha, you look at bit tired today.”

Sam looked at him, anger welling up along with the guilt of having caused Daniel’s death. “I’m sure you would look tired as well if the roles had been reversed.”

“But they’re not, are they?”

As it had happened before, the assistant placed five patches on Sam’s head, attached them to the instrument on the steel table next to the chair she was sitting in and then left.

Sam hadn’t been able to figure out what purpose the instrument had, it didn’t seem to be linked to the node and she couldn’t see any screen displaying its readings.

“I take it you’ll be more motivated to cooperate today after you caused your friend’s demise yesterday.”

Sam looked at him, balling her fists, the desire to kill him overwhelming, “you bastard.”

“How surprising,” his voice thick with irony, “that’s why I’m going to show you this,” he went over to the monitor and turned it on.

Sam felt her heart skip a beat, the answer to one of her many questions just got answered.

“Colonel!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter we hear a little bit more about Sam's first day at the facility.

**Chapter 2**

During their first meeting The Commander had looked at her and stated matter-of-factly: _“We know you were once host to a Tok’ra named Jolinar…”_ the way he’d said the name made the hair on Sam’s neck stand up.

_“I don’t know what you’re taking about, release me and let me go.”_

_“Jolinar caused a lot of trouble, killed valuable members of my team and prevented us from finishing a very important project.”_

Sam had found it strange he would share so much information with her.

_“We know you have access to the memories of Jolinar, and we need you to remember this specific mission so you can return what rightly belongs to us.”_

_“I don’t know what you’re aaaahrg!”_ An agonizing pain spreading from the back of her head had made it impossible for Sam to finish the sentence.

_“We don’t have time for this little game of denial, Major Carter, we’ve waited long enough for the chance to bring you here.”_

The pain had disappeared as fast as it had hit her.

_“I’m sure your scientific mind will find this very fascinating,”_ he had shown her a handheld device with a small screen, buttons and dials.

_“This along with many other useful tools was developed by our lead scientist, one of Jolinar’s victims. Allow me to demonstrate.”_

He’d pressed one of the buttons and immediately a burning sensation had spread from Sam’s toes to her thighs.

_“Or how about this?”_

Sam hadn’t been able to suppress a gasp, it had felt like her internal organs were about to be crushed.

Another button pressed had stopped both pain and the burning sensation.

_“This won’t make me help you.”_  

_“That’s what they all say, Major, but I’ve yet to see anyone keep that promise to themselves.”_ A tiny smile made it look like he was recollecting past interrogations.

_“I will now leave you in the capable hands of my medical team,”_ he had nodded in Sam’s direction and left.

\- o - o - o -

_“Hello Samantha.”_ A man in his fifties wearing a lab coat had come into Sam’s field of vision. He’d been standing silently behind her while the Commander spoke. He had a wide scar across his left chin, it made him look older than he was.

_“I’ve been looking forward to work with you on this project. You can make it very easy for yourself by telling us what we need to know. If not we have means to make you talk as the Commander just demonstrated.”_

_“I will not help you.”_ It was the policy, members of SG teams did not cooperate with the enemy if they got captured. It went hand in hand with the policy of not leaving anyone behind. When someone went missing, the SGC immediately organized a search and rescue mission. They were probably already out there searching for her.

_“Oh, but you will, Samantha.”_ It had felt provoking, too personal that he called her by her given name.

_“As the Commander said, you have something that belongs to us. When Jolinar was here, she destroyed the blueprint to the last stage of a very important device and killed the brilliant mind behind it. Not so brilliant in fact, since he’d only kept one copy of the print,”_ the last words had been mumbled.

_“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t know this Jolinaarrrrg,”_ it had felt like a thousand small needles were jammed into her skin at once. It wasn’t until now Sam realized the Commander had passed the handheld device over to the Doctor when he left.

_“Stop lying to me, Samantha,”_ he’d pressed a button and the pain had stopped immediately.

_“I can’t help you.”_

_“You and I both know there’s a difference between can’t and won’t, I’m sure we’ll figure out together how to change it to can and will.”_

He’d continued: “ _As you might have noticed, I’ve placed a node at the base of your skull. I can activate and deactivate it with this controller,”_ he’d shown Sam the device, _“and it’s up to you how many times I’ll have to do it.”_ To Sam it sounded like he didn’t see it as a huge sacrifice to activate it and it worried her deeply.

_“The possibilities are endless and I’m known as a very creative man,_ ” he’d paused, looking very proud of himself. _“I advise you don’t try and remove it or else you’ll die a slow and painful death.”_

_“I CAN’T help you.”_

_“Jolinar was known as a very curious Tok’ra. On the surveillance recordings we can see how she studied the blueprint intensely for several minutes before destroying it by starting a fire in the office where she found it. A symbiote never forgets, so all you have to do is tap into the memory from this particular mission, recollect the memorized blueprint and then help us finish the device.”  
_

_“You must be out of your mind.”_ Instantly it had felt like something was crawling beneath the skin on her hands. Sam had tried hard to remind herself it wasn’t real, but still small beads of sweat spread across her forehead.

_“It’s in your hands for how long this has to continue, remember that, Samantha,”_ he had moved closer before whispering into Sam’s ear, _“did you notice what I just did there? It’s in your hands,”_ emphasizing the last word, adding a chuckle.

Sam had started gasping, the crawling sensation spreading from her hands and up to her elbows. _“This will not make me talk,”_ she'd managed to say through gritted teeth.

_“You’re a most stubborn woman, Samantha,”_ the Doctor had said before pressing a button on the controller, making Sam pass out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter about Sam's first days at the facility before we move on to the here and now.

**Chapter 3**

Sam had woken up in what was clearly some kind of prison cell, not knowing how much time had passed since her encounter with the Doctor. No longer wearing her BDUs but a black jumpsuit, it had felt incredibly uncomfortable knowing someone had changed her clothes while she was unconscious.

She’d looked at her hands and arms, no sign of anything crawling under the skin, it had all been simulated and controlled by the node, just as he’d told her. This also meant they could do this to her again and again without actually causing any physical harm. Sam had taken a deep breath steadying herself, there had been difficult situations before, she’d make it through this one as well she promised herself.

Sam had examined the grey walls and heavy steel door, there would be no easy escape from this cell. The bed and necessary facilities had proven to be of little help as well.

Hours had passed where nothing had happened. Then footsteps by the door announced the arrival of someone. It was the guard she’d seen before, he was bringing her food. He was tall and lanky and couldn’t be more than in his early twenties.

Sam had gotten to her feet slowly, trying not to appear threatening.

 _“As you can see we’re taking good care of you, Major Carter,”_ he’d said while placing the tray on the bed.

She’d taken her chance, closed the distance between them and hit him in the face with her palm putting as much force into the blow as possible, breaking his nose. With him bleeding and stumbling backwards against the wall, she’d taken steps towards him, but he was fast and had pulled out his weapon, efficiently ending their little fight almost as soon as it had begun.

He’d left the cell with a string of curses, a hand pressed against his nose, making Sam realize he didn’t have the controller with him, or else he’d probably given her an instant lesson in how not to treat the bringer of food.

A little while later, he had returned along with the Commander.

_“I would have preferred not to do this, Major Carter, but your attack proves it necessary.”_

They had left Sam alone after the Commander had put wide, stainless steel bracelets around both her wrists, attaching the right one to a wire pulled out from a track system now visible at the back wall of the cell.

In the next two days that followed, Sam learned that when it was time for food or delivery of a clean jumpsuit, they would shorten the length of the wire making it impossible for her to attack the guard or make a run for the door. Sometimes the length of the wire was shortened for no apparent reason, Sam figured it was the guard’s idea of payback for the broken nose.

Apart from that, they had left her alone, giving Sam far too much time to think about what might come next.

\- o - o - o -

 _“Good to see you again, Samantha,”_ the Doctor had greeted her with a smile.

 _“I can assure you the feeling isn’t mutual.”_ Sam was back in his lab, restrained.

_“Are you willing to work with us today on accessing the memories of Jolinar?”_

_“No, absolutely not.”_

_“I thought as much, perhaps this will make you change your mind?”_

He’d turned on the monitor hanging on the wall in front of her. Sam had gasped in surprise, recognizing it as a video feed from a cell like hers, only Daniel was in it. They had captured Daniel as well!

_“You see, we took your friend with us when we came for you, thinking he might prove useful to us.”_

A short, red-haired woman in a lab coat had entered the room, placed five patches on Sam’s head and attached them to an instrument on the table next to the chair Sam was sitting in before leaving.

_“Your friend has his own node, just like you have yours. They’re connected, so whatever he senses and experiences, you’ll feel as well, only not as intense, since we need you to stay focused on recovering the information we need.”_

_“Even if I wanted to help, it doesn’t work like that.”_

_“Let’s see if we can make it work, shall we?”_

He had taken the controller from the table and pushed a button, making Daniel fall to his knees, bending over.

Sam had felt it in her stomach the second Daniel fell to his knees, the distant pain from a staff blast. She’d also become acutely aware of his racing heartbeat, the node had to be transmitting that to her as well.

_“Do you need another demonstration, Samantha?”_

_“No, no more of this, please,”_ Sam had looked at the monitor, Daniel still not back up on his feet. In that moment she’d changed her mind about not working with the aliens, perhaps doing so would buy her enough time to come up with a plan on how to escape. Or perhaps a team from the SGC would find the facility and free them first.

 _“Very well then,”_ the Doctor had said, but he hadn’t pushed any buttons on the controller, the pain in Sam’s stomach remained.

\- o - o - o -

Memory after memory had flashed by, vague images from what appeared to be a lifetime spent with Lantash, atrocities committed in the name of Cronus, and from what must have been the battles of the rebellion at Malkshur.

 _“Please! None of this is making any sense, this is not something I can just decide to do,”_ Sam had pleaded.

It had been going on for hours and occasionally the Doctor had adjusted what he did to Daniel, making sure Sam was paying attention to the monitor, as if feeling what he was going through wasn’t enough. Sam was grateful there wasn’t any sound coming from the monitor, and the cell had to be located some distance away, she couldn’t hear Daniel’s screams through the open door to the lab.

 _“You just need to focus, Samantha, only one mission matters, the one to this facility,”_ the Doctor had demanded, not much patience left from the sound of his voice.

She had felt Daniel’s heart beat fast, just as her own did. He was lying huddled in one of the corners, taking short, fast breaths.

The Doctor had grabbed her chin with his left hand, forcing her to look at him.

 _”FOCUS!”_  

Sam didn’t have to look at the monitor to know another button had been pressed on the controller. So she’d tried to focus, forcing her mind to tune in on the distant memories of Jolinar.

Elusive glimpses from Netu, the theft of a Tel’tak, the traumatic, short-lived blending with a male host.

 _“Listen to me,”_ Sam had whispered, sweaty and exhausted from recalling the memories and from the horror of feeling what Daniel went through, all because she wasn’t able give the Doctor what he wanted. _“I can’t help you, what you’re after simply… isn’t… there,”_ the words drawn out.

_“I’m sorry to hear that, Samantha, I counted on you, thinking you would cooperate and stop me from tormenting your friend.”_

Sam had felt a rapidly increasing intensity of pain in her entire body, _“No, please don’t do this.”_

_“You forced me to do this, remember that.”_

The pain had become almost unbearable and on the monitor Sam had seen how Daniel’s body jerked a few times before lying completely still. It had taken a minute before she realized she could no longer feel his heartbeat. Daniel was dead.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From this chapter on we're back to the here and now.

**Chapter 4**

”Colonel!” Sam’s heart skipped a beat, she could feel how the blood drained from her face.        

”Now you’re giving too much away, Samantha,” a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.   

The Colonel being a prisoner here meant one less person out there searching for her. Sam tried not to put too much significance into that particular fact.

“As you may have guessed already,” the Doctor said, “your precious _Colonel_ has a node of his own.”

Sam closed her eyes for a moment.

“Now that you’ve seen just how far we can take it with this,” he unnecessarily showed Sam the controller, “I suggest you put a little more effort into digging out Jolinar’s memories from her visit to this facility and return what she took from us.”

“It doesn’t work like that, I can’t just will it to happen.”

“There’s that “can’t” again, I don’t want to hear it,” he pressed a button and on the monitor Sam could see how Jack’s hands flew to his throat as if trying to prevent something or someone from strangling him.

Sam could feel a slight pressure on her throat, their nodes had to be connected the same way hers and Daniel’s had been. “Stop it! You can’t expect me to focus on anything when it feels like I can’t breathe.”

“You do have a good point, Samantha.” The Doctor turned towards to monitor, took a couple of minutes to watch Jack struggle, before pressing a button.

Sam watched how Jack slumped down on the floor, gasping for air but safe for now.

\- o - o - o -

Crushed kneecaps, gunshot wounds and whipping. The Doctor hadn’t lied about his so-called creativity regarding how to get the most out of the controller. Sam was getting desperate, fragments of some new memories had surfaced, but none of them seemed to be from a mission to destroy research conducted at this facility and kill the scientist behind it.

The Doctor had left the lab, giving her and Jack a break after a session that felt like it had lasted for hours. She watched him lie on the bed in the cell with an arm slung over his face, and she could feel how his pulse slowly returned to normal. Sam noticed how none of his wrists were chained to the wall and it made her wonder how they prevented him from trying to escape.

She had to do something or else he might not survive the day. She might not even get out of this alive herself, but the thought of being directly responsible for the death of two members of her team made her feel sick. Two _friends_. One of them even a little more than just a friend.

For a moment, Sam felt dizzy. Then she shook her head and drew a deep breath, those thoughts didn’t exactly help her or the Colonel. She would need to be a little more constructive.

There was no way she could get out of the chair with both her hands and ankles restrained. There was also no way she could focus on any of Jolinar’s memories long enough for it to be of any use when part of her mind was occupied by feeling a toned-down version of the pain the Doctor inflicted on the Colonel.

Knowing the pain wasn’t real didn’t make any difference to her and probably not to the Colonel either. The node did a devilishly good job at tricking the brain into believing whatever pain signals it received were caused by something that actually happened.

Sam needed to quiet her mind in order to recollect the memory of the mission, which would buy them time since the Doctor had said they needed her help in order to finish the device. She couldn’t do that while being strapped to a chair and hopefully working in some kind of science lab would give her the opportunity to strike at whatever person was supervising her work.

Sam looked down at her hands, several minutes passed while she sat there in the lab, thinking. Suddenly she raised her head, looked at the monitor and whispered, “Colonel, hang in there.” An idea had formed.

\- o - o - o -

Sam could hear the Doctor’s footsteps, for the first time she noticed he walked with a distinct limp. She wondered if he had been present at the facility during Jolinar’s attack, if she had tried to kill him as well as the scientist. It was undoubtedly unwise to ask him, but knowing he might have an injury that made fast movements difficult for him could prove to be useful.

He entered the lab, went straight to his desk to pick up the controller, turned towards Sam and cast a glance at the monitor. “I think your Colonel would appreciate it, if you started remembering something of use to us and soon, Samantha.”

The Doctor moved closer, his face only a couple of inches from Sam’s before saying, “in fact so would I, this is getting old.” She didn’t see him press any buttons, but she could feel the distant pain from a shin being crushed.

That was the worst part. Not knowing what to expect, which part of the body he would simulate an assault on next. It made it impossible for Sam to prepare herself mentally for it and she worried about the Colonel who felt the full force of the assaults probably even without knowing why he was tortured.

“Stop it, please! Listen to me! I’m trying to recover the memory, but this isn’t going to work!”

The Doctor straightened his back and gave her a curious look. “Do I hear a suggestion coming?”

“Yes, listen to me, please. You have to stop using the controller on the Colonel. Feeling the pain he’s in makes it impossible for me to focus on any memory long enough to know if it’s the right one. If it’s the one from the mission to this place.” Sam was hoping this argument would be enough to convince him to change tactics.

The Doctor seemed to think about it, hesitated for a moment and then pressed a button to stop the current simulation of pain. Sam looked at the monitor, Jack was slowly getting up from the floor, moving towards the bed, massaging his left shin.

“How do you suggest we proceed then?” He put the controller back on his desk and Sam allowed herself to feel a moment of relief, he was willing to listen to her.

“You will need to dim the lights, remove the patches and let me out of these restraints,” Sam wiggled her hands and feet to emphasize.

A short laughter came from the Doctor, “and why would I do that? You have proven twice that you’re a dangerous woman, Samantha,” he looked at her with an amused expression on his face.

“Because I will need to relax in order to try and retrieve the memory and I can’t do that sitting here like a prisoner under interrogation,” Sam tried to hide the anger in her voice, “you have the controller, I know what it can do to me or the Colonel. You can even have your guard standing ready if you think it’s necessary.”

The Doctor looked at the monitor for a while and then back at Sam. “Very well then, but be careful or your Colonel will have a very long night ahead of him.” Sam nodded, believing him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Sam could move her hands and feet freely again. To avoid misunderstandings she made sure not to make any fast or unexpected movements, there would only be one chance to get this right.

The Doctor had dimmed the lights in the lab as Sam had requested. The brightest part of the room now the area filled with blue light shining from the monitor, where she could see Jack sitting on the bed, his back against the wall, legs stretched out in front of him. The young guard was standing in the far corner with his weapon ready, they clearly didn’t trust her.

“This could take some time,” Sam said looking at the Doctor, “please don’t interrupt me, I will let you know when I’ve found the memory you’re interested in.” He nodded slowly, she took it as a sign for her to begin.

Sam closed her eyes and tried to remember everything Teal’c had told her about Kelno'reem. Taking deep, steadying breaths, hands lying relaxed in her lap, she turned her attention inwards. Sam became aware of Jack’s heartbeat and felt how her own pulse aligned with his.

Minutes passed with nothing happening, but then suddenly the memories of Jolinar started flowing. Once again, glimpses of a lifetime shared with Lantash were the first memories to surface. Then the very last memory, dying by the hand of the Ashrak, making the conscious choice to save the host, Sam. She felt a lump in her throat, dwelling for a moment on her own memories from that particular day.

Sam discovered after a couple of minutes it was possible to slow down how fast the memories changed by continuing to take deep breaths and not react emotionally to any of them.

A mission onboard a Goa’uld Mothership. Meetings with the High Council. Gathering information about a System Lord’s whereabouts. Using crystals to dig out new tunnels.

Tunnels. There was something important about the tunnels. Sam frowned. It felt like her mind went blank, then after a few moments of nothingness, a crystal clear memory of seeing a blueprint lingered. After that followed snapshots of a small fire, of a fight to leave a room that looked like an office, of seeing blood on her hands, dropping a knife. Sam inhaled sharply, it had to be the memories she was trying to find.

She kept her eyes closed while she recalled the memory of the blueprint. It was a complicated technical design, but possible for her to finish if the right components were present in the lab.

When Sam finally opened her eyes, she did so slowly, even the dimmed light felt bright. The Doctor was leaning against his desk, arms crossed with the controller in his right hand. “Did you manage to remember the mission, Samantha, so you can return what Jolinar took from us?”

“Yes, I saw the blueprint.” She felt exhausted.

“Very well, then. We’ll take you to the science lab tomorrow, I imagine it shouldn’t take much time for a genius like you to finish the device,” he waved the controller in front of her, “or else your Colonel will get to know firsthand you aren’t as clever as he thinks you are.”

Sam’s eyes flew to the monitor, she wasn’t sure how much patience the Doctor would have with her, how much time she would get before he started using the controller again. Anger flared up. “I did get the blueprint, didn’t I? I will need to see the device before I know how much work needs to be done on it.”

He just looked at her before turning to the guard. “Take her back to her cell.”

With her hands restrained, the guard walked her back to her cell. Despite the promise of cooperation, her right wrist was once again chained to the wall, they were still not taking any chances with her.

\- o - o - o -

Sam used the facilities in her cell to wash up and then change to a clean jumpsuit. The sleeves had zippers allowing for a change of clothes without letting go of the restraint. The Doctor probably didn’t like bad smelling prisoners in his lab, she mused.

The guard brought her food, not answering any of Sam’s questions about where they were from, where this place was located or if she could talk to the Colonel. Not that she had expected him to, they had trained him well.

Sam didn’t ask to speak to Teal’c, she was convinced he had escaped being captured since she hadn’t been linked to his node as well by now. He would have alerted the SGC as soon as the three of them had disappeared, the search for them had begun almost immediately after they’d been taken. It comforted her.

Lying on the bed, Sam once again recalled the memory of the blueprint. It had given her access to the science lab, but depending on how far their scientist had come with the construction of the device before he was killed and if all the necessary components were there, it shouldn’t take long to finish it.

This meant she wouldn’t have much time to figure out a way to escape. Neither the Commander nor the Doctor had said anything about letting them go once the device was built which made it a priority to free herself and the Colonel.

The Colonel. _Jack_. He had taken quite a beating today even if it had happened only in his mind. Sam wondered how he was feeling, subconsciously reaching for the node. His pulse felt strong and steady, he was probably asleep already.

Lying like that, accompanied by Jack’s heartbeat, Sam fell asleep herself.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Sam was in for quite a surprise when the Commander and the guard the following day brought her to the science lab. It turned out to be a giant hangar, once a busy place it was now eerily quiet with only two Al’kesh parked on the concrete floor.

The Commander took her to the engineering room in the nearest one. “You will work on this Al’kesh first, Major Carter. Our scientist was nearly done installing the device when Jolinar killed him.”

He had a strange look in his eyes and for a moment Sam thought he might take it out on her right there what Jolinar had done, controller ready in his hand. She held her breath, waiting, before seeing him press a button that instantly made her feel an excruciating pain in the lower abdomen, making her cry out.

It was over within seconds and Sam wasn’t sure whether it had actually been revenge or just the Commander demonstrating and reminding her about the power they had over her. She raised her restrained hands in surrender, “please, this isn’t necessary,” she was trying to catch her breath, “I will do what you have asked of me.” Sam thought she sounded convincing even to her own ears.

\- o - o - o -

The Commander watched while the guard released the restraint only to attach a chain to the bracelet on her right wrist. “We’re not taking any chances with you, Major. I advise you not to get any good ideas while you work in here.” He handed over the controller to the guard before leaving them alone.

In the middle of the engineering room stood a heavy steel table where several components, crystals and tools were lying neatly side-by-side. The chain restricting Sam’s movements was attached to one of the table legs and just long enough to give her access to the device the scientist had been working on integrating in the systems located in the right side of the room.

Sam started out by giving the device a closer look, and since the Al’kesh was powered up, she could see how some components and crystals were put in place without anything being activated yet. The guard kept his distance but Sam noticed how much attention he was paying to what she was doing, it wouldn’t be easy to catch him by surprise again.

Examining the components and crystals next, Sam compared them to her mental image of Jolinar’s memory of the blueprint, figuring out which position they each had inside the device. The tools didn’t look like the standard Earth or Goa’uld variety, but there were only so many ways to construct a handheld scanner, wrenches, soldering tweezers and the other tools lying on the table.

Sam started working, installing one component after the other, taking small breaks to recall the blueprint. She could still feel Jack’s pulse and there was no accompanying pain, for now the aliens were leaving him alone.

\- o - o - o -

Sam was deeply focused on soldering when the Commander startled her, “you’ve been working on the device for hours, how far have you come?”

She used the left sleeve to wipe off sweat from her brow, it had gotten quite warm in the engineering room. “My estimate is it’ll take me a couple of days to install the rest of the components and then put the remaining crystals in place.” A flash of what Sam thought was surprise crossed the Commander’s face, as if he hadn’t expected her to be able to finish the device so soon.

“Very well, I’ll leave to you it.”

“Uhm, thank you.” Unexpectedly he didn’t make any demands and for a moment she just stood there, watching him leave the engineering room.

“Does your Commander have a name?” She looked at the young guard. He didn’t disappoint, after the expected silence she returned her attention to the device.

\- o - o - o -

The following day’s evening Sam was lying on the bed in her cell staring at the grey ceiling after another long, hot day in the engineering room. It had felt so good to change into a clean jumpsuit, a lot of the work had been done lying on the floor working on the device and the components connecting it to the Al’kesh from underneath it.

Today had presented her with the opportunity to move forward with the plan on how to escape the facility. Sam knew it would come at a prize, and she hoped they would punish her and not the Colonel. Lying there, she thought about how and what he was doing. His pulse was steady, Sam had gotten used to its constant presence, it almost felt like a part of her now and she took comfort in the fact that one more day had passed without the aliens hurting him.

She was asleep when the door swung open, the Commander storming in, bellowing, “what have you done, you deceitful wick’tu!”


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Sam was instantly awake, realizing they had shortened the length of the wire chaining her wrist to the wall while she had been sleeping. She sat up, “what do you mean what have I done? I’ve been here in my cell, sleeping.”

The Commander’s dark eyes flashed with anger. Her heart sank, the pain she could feel was distant, he had chosen to take it out on the Colonel.

“Do not lie to me, _Major Carter_ ,” he emphasized her name and rank, “if you didn’t _do anything_ , then how do you explain the Al’kesh powering down just a few minutes ago?”

“I… I don’t know. I’ve only been working on the device and its few connections to the systems next to it as you instructed me to.” The pain level increased, Jack’s pulse was racing.

“I do not believe you,” he moved closer.

“Please, don’t do this, I didn’t do anything that could result in a power down.”

He grabbed her chin with his left hand, “not good enough, _Major._ ” Out of the corner of her eye, Sam could see him adjust a dial on the controller he was holding in his right hand, “your Colonel and I are waiting.”

“Wait, stop it, please!” Sam was begging him now. “I… I did notice something, a flashing light behind the guard where he was standing keeping an eye on me.”

The Commander didn’t respond, Sam continued talking, fast, “that’s where the engine controls are located if I remember correctly. Of course the flashing light indicated some sort of malfunction,” she attempted to shake her head held in his strong grip. “I’m sorry, but I was so focused on the device that I barely registered it.” She looked at him, eyes pleading, “please, you have to believe me. I didn’t cause the power down, I would accomplish nothing by doing so.”

He held her gaze for what felt like an eternity. Sam didn’t break eye contact, her plan would only work if she managed to make him believe her.

He finally pressed a button making the pain slowly fade away and Sam exhaled shakily. ”If you let me, I can work on getting the power back tomorrow,” she offered.

He let go of her chin, took a few steps backwards and continued to look at her with an intense stare. Sam felt like he was testing her, so she didn’t look away and made sure her facial expression couldn’t be interpreted as anything but submissive.

“You will power up the Al’kesh and finish the device tomorrow!” Voice demanding.

“Yes,” Sam nodded affirmative.

He left the cell, slamming the door behind him.

\- o - o - o -

Whether on purpose or not they didn’t loosen the wire and Sam had to move around a little before finding a comfortable position. She thought about the pain the Colonel had suffered because of her. “I’m sorry, Sir,” she whispered, regretting the Commander hadn’t taken his anger out on her instead.

Programming and causing a delayed power down from the systems she was allowed to work on had been a little tricky, but her plan had worked and given her what she needed: access to the engine controls. So far so good.

\- o - o - o -

The next morning the guard took her to the Al’kesh where a giant lamp provided the light necessary for Sam to be able to work in the engineering room. The chain was once again attached to the bracelet on her right wrist, only today it restricted her movements to a different part of the room.

She noticed how the guard didn’t have the controller with him, only his standard weapon which he kept ready. The controller had to be with either the Doctor or the Commander, it seemed to be the only one they had, from how she had seen them pass it on to each other.

Sam began working on the engine controls, taking her time so it didn’t appear to be too easy to power up the Al’kesh. She picked up two different tools from the steel table and said, “I need to do some work inside the compartment where the crystals are located.” She pointed at it in order to notify the guard, preventing a possible overreaction to the swooshing sound it would make when she opened it.

Sam turned around after seeing him nod, walked over to the compartment and opened it. The guard was standing behind her on the opposite side of the table and Sam made sure to block his view so he didn’t see how she swiftly swapped two crystals before pretending to use the tools.

Sam let an appropriate amount of time pass before she entered the code she had programmed the day before, efficiently restoring power to the Al’kesh.

\- o - o - o -

Sam spent the rest of the day working on the device, installing the remaining components. The Commander checked on her progress a couple of times but didn’t interrupt much to her surprise.

Late in the evening, she recalled the blueprint from the memories of Jolinar for the last time, making sure the placement of all components and their connections matched the memory. Five crystals needed to be put into place before the device was operational.

“I think the Commander would like to be here when I power up the device,” she said to the guard, showing him the crystals.

He nodded and made Sam sit on the floor next to the table, shortening the chain so she couldn’t reach any of the systems in the engineering room. She smiled to herself, he still wasn’t taking any chances with her. She drank a little water while she waited for the guard to pick up the Commander, carefully planning what she was going to say to him.

\- o - o - o -

Sam heard his familiar footsteps approach, it could very well sound like he had been in the military at some point in his life. Since she hadn’t seen other people than him, the Doctor, the Doctor’s assistant and the young guard, that would most likely make him the pilot of the group.

He came and stood in front of her, “you’re finally done, Major Carter.”

Sam got up on her feet, “yes, all that’s left to be installed are these five crystals,” she pointed at them where they were lying on the table, “perhaps you’d like to install them yourself?”

“I’ll leave that up to you.”

“You’ll need to give me access to the device again,” she showed him the bracelet.

He nodded to the guard who loosened up the chain, making it possible for Sam to bring the five crystals over to the device. She carefully put each of them into their designated slot and with the last one added, the device powered up and started humming quietly. Sam took a step back, everything seemed to be working perfectly.

She picked up the handheld scanner from the table, looked at the readings for a couple of minutes before saying, “there’s your device, up and running.”

”Well thank you,” he said, “Jolinar was able to cause a considerably delay but could after all not prevent this device from being built.”

Sam didn’t like his self-satisfied smile. “From what I can see it can’t operate unless the Al’kesh is in the air.”

“So our scientist told us.”

“It’s possible to control it from the bridge, but perhaps you’d like me to accompany you on the first test flight, monitoring it here in the engineering room?”

“No, that won’t be necessary. You will start working on the second device, it shouldn’t take you long to finish now that you’ve completed this one. After that we’ll acquire components and crystals for some other projects we need you to work on.”

“You wanted me to recall the blueprint from Jolinar’s memories and build the device and that’s exactly what I’ve done,” she protested.

“Now you disappoint me, Major Carter, you didn’t really think we’d let you and your Colonel go, did you?”  He didn’t give Sam time to respond, “I’ll take the Al’kesh for a test flight tomorrow. The device better be working or else I promise that the two of you can look forward to a long night in the capable hands of my medical team.”

“That won’t be necessary, the device is working.”

He looked at her stating coolly, “It better be.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The next morning on her way to the second Al’kesh Sam noticed how the Commander wasn’t yet on the bridge preparing the test flight of the Al’kesh with the installed device.

When they got to the engineering room the guard chained Sam’s right wrist to the large steel table in the middle of the room. As in the first Al’kesh it had components, crystals and tools lying neatly in order on it.

Once again he didn’t have the controller with him. “You know, this really isn’t necessary,” Sam held up her wrist, “you’re here with me all the time, you have your weapon ready, so what do you expect me to do? Come after you again?”

He shrugged, “the Commander’s orders.”

“You can inform him I’d be able to work much faster if this wasn’t in the way.” As expected the guard didn’t respond, Sam sighed and began examining the content of the table. There were far more components lying on it than in the first Al’kesh, the Commander had been right about how far their scientist had come with his work.

Sam paused to recall the memory of the blueprint before she started working, adding one component after the other to the device.

\- o - o - o -

After a couple of hours, the Commander came for the guard and they made Sam sit on the floor next to the table, waiting for him to return. She had made sure the wrench-like tool had been lying close to the edge of the table at all times, but this presented her with an even better opportunity.

She tucked it up her jumpsuit’s left sleeve, tied it to the inside of her forearm with thin wire she cut half way through so it would break once she grabbed and pulled at the wrench.

Sitting on the floor again Sam could hear how they prepared the first Al’kesh for launch. “They’re in for quite a surprise, Colonel,” she said quietly. Pretending to keep him informed felt good, it grounded her. Half an hour later she heard the engine start, the Al’kesh was about to be airborne.

The guard returned, Sam made sure he didn’t notice the wrench tied to her left arm when he loosened up the chain giving her access to the device again. She went back to work, it couldn’t take long now.

\- o - o - o -

Sam could hear how the Al’kesh flew past the facility several times. The guard was standing in his usual spot, still keeping an eye on her, but not as intensely as the first couple of days. Sam stood with her back to him as she had done many times before, seemingly lost to the world deeply focused on installing a particularly tricky component inside the device.

What she made sure he couldn’t see, was the firm grip she had on the wrench with her right hand and how almost her entire weight rested on her right foot, ready to move.

The Al’kesh approached the facility again, only an explosion abruptly substituted the expected sound of a flyover. Sam’s cue.

She pulled at the wrench, the thin wires gave in offering no resistance and her right hand continued its course towards her right side. Using all the force of her right leg, she turned around to her left side and threw the wrench at the guard with everything she had in her.

Distracted by the explosion, he didn’t notice Sam’s attack until it was too late. Lifting his weapon when the wrench hit him between the eyes, a single shot was fired before it slipped from his hand. Sam ducked to avoid the red ball of light, but it hit the floor below the steel table.

He fell to the floor with a thud, blood already running from the wound. The weapon slid under the table, Sam hurried to pick it up and fired at him a couple of times, making his body jerk before lying completely still. One shot had been enough to stun her, Sam briefly wondered if this weapon worked the same way as a zat.

The building shook from an explosion, parts from the Al’kesh must have crash-landed on top of the facility and that was definitely not part of the plan. Sam stood still for a minute listening, trying to figure out how close by the explosion had been but without any success.

No matter what this meant she had to move fast in case the explosion started a fire. The Colonel was still locked up in a cell somewhere but Sam could feel his heartbeat, he was safe for now.

She didn’t want to risk firing the weapon at the chain still tethering her to the table in case the energy from the shot traveled along the metal and ended up stunning her. Instead she climbed under the table towards the guard and by stretching her left arm all she could, she reached one of his feet and pulled him to her.

Sam found the key to the chain in his right pocket where she had seen him put it. He didn’t move while she used it to free herself from the chain and when she checked for a pulse she found nothing. Whether the wrench or his own weapon had killed him wasn’t important to Sam, all that mattered was that both he and the Commander now were dead. Only the Doctor and his assistant remained a threat and with that thought, she grabbed the weapon and left the engineering room.

\- o - o - o -

“Unscheduled off-world activation,” Walter’s voice rang out over the intercom at the SGC. General Hammond hurried into the control room and waited for the wormhole to open.

“It’s Jacob Carter’s I.D.C., Sir.”

“Open the iris.”

“Yes, Sir,” Walter replied, Hammond already on his way down the stairs to the Gate room.

Jacob Carter walked down the ramp in long strides while the wormhole shut down behind him. “George, I’ve got news for you,” he said before General Hammond got a chance to bid him welcome.

They walked in silence to the General’s office, where Hammond closed the door behind them.

“Yesterday one of our operatives intercepted communication between the Al’mik’toa facility and a minor Goa’uld we’re currently monitoring.”

“The Al’mik’toa facility?”

“I’m not surprised you haven’t heard about it and we certainly hadn’t expected to hear about it again. Jolinar was on a mission there, destroying research and killing the lead scientist among others, assuring us when she returned that the threat the facility posed to the Tok’ra had been eliminated.”

“Jolinar, the Tok’ra Sam was host to and who ended up saving her life.”

“Yes,” Jacob confirmed, “from what our operative was able to decipher the place is partly up and running again. The commander of the facility could promise a delivery of the requested device very soon, thanks to a Tau’ri woman they had hired to help them.”

“That has to be Sam, “hired” is a bit of an exaggeration,” Hammond said with a grim expression on his face.

“Our operative thought as well and made sure to transmit a message to the High Council as soon as it was possible without exposing himself.”

“Finally something to work with,” Hammond said, nodding, “our teams have been out searching night and day, Jacob.”

“I know, but you can stop searching now, George, I’ve got a Gate address.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Sam was careful when she exited the Al’kesh, not sure where the Doctor and the assistant would go now that they had to know the Commander was dead. She found the hangar empty and ran as fast as she could to the door she knew would lead to the section of the facility that held the cells.

There was another explosion. Sam started to worry about finding Jack and getting them both out in time, but she couldn’t see or smell smoke so any fires the explosions might have caused couldn’t be close by yet.

She opened the door slowly, weapon ready but no one was waiting for her in the hallway behind it. Sam started moving, her first priority was to locate the cell where the Colonel was held and then if possible capture the Doctor so they could bring him with them, Sam had many questions she’d like to ask.

Minutes past, Sam moved as fast as possible, still being cautious at every turn. Halfway to the cell area she came to a dead end, a section of the ceiling had collapsed, blocking the hallway. “Dammit,” she said, then turned around and considered her options, there had to be another way to get to the cells.

She could still feel Jack’s heartbeat, for a split second feeling almost grateful for the node the Doctor had placed at the base of her skull. He was alive but trapped in an area damaged by the explosions. She had to hurry up.

\- o - o - o -

Sam moved into a section of the facility that held what looked like offices. She was about to turn a corner when she thought she heard noise coming from the room at the end of the corridor. She decided to take a closer look and was approaching slowly when she suddenly at a distance saw the Doctor inside, he was sorting through something, perhaps trying to gather as much of his research as possible to bring with him.

Sam was moving towards the office as quietly as she could when an explosion once again shook the facility. The Doctor looked up from what he was doing and looked straight at her.

“You!” He shouted, dropping what he had in his hands, hurrying towards a table located to the right side of the door.

“Stop! Don’t move!”

“You caused this,” he moved fast despite the limp.

Sam could no longer see him, “stop!”

He reached the table where the controller was lying and pushed a button just as Sam was about to enter the room. She couldn’t hold back a scream, the pain was instant and could be felt in every fiber of her body.

“This is my newest invention, the simulation of being hit by the blast from a nuclear explosion, what you’re experiencing is the lowest setting.”

Sam held herself up with her right shoulder against the doorframe.

“The last couple of days I’ve been working on programming the controller and I’ve been looking forward to test it,” he sounded awfully excited, “but had never expected you to have the honor.”

Sam was unable to speak, bending over gasping for air.

“Shortly it will feel like your skin is melting,” he walked around the table, “and I expect that to be too much for even your brain to handle.”

“This isn’t real, this isn’t real, this isn’t real,” Sam kept repeating to herself. She still had the weapon in her right hand, hidden from him.

“I regret we have to say goodbye like this, I had great plans for you, Samantha.” The Doctor now sitting on the edge of the table looked at the controller.

Sam took advantage of his lack of attention, she lifted the weapon, it felt like it weighed a ton.

“This is for the Comman…”

“Go to Hell,” Sam fired the weapon twice, sending two red balls of light directly at him aiming for his chest.

“… der.” Hit by the weapons fire he looked up at her in disbelief, dropped the controller and fell to the floor.

\- o - o - o -

Sam let go of the weapon, the pain continued to increase making it incredibly difficult to focus. She had to get to the controller and turn it off or else she might risk passing out or even dying from the pain as Daniel had done. The controller was lying almost in front of her but in Sam’s current state she felt like it might as well have been in the next room.

There was a minor explosion nearby. It took a few seconds before she realized she could no longer feel Jack’s heartbeat. “No,” Sam shook her head unwilling to accept the implication of the missing pulse and sank to her knees, “no, please god, no!”


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Still on her knees, Sam somehow managed to gather the strength to cross the short distance to the controller. She picked it up and pushed the button that most likely looked like it would turn it off and waited. After a couple of seconds, the pain in her body subsided only to make room for an onslaught of emotions.

Sitting on the floor she was overwhelmed by feelings of guilt, regret and sorrow. Sam couldn’t believe it, the Colonel, no _Jack_ was dead. If only she had been able to get to his cell sooner, her commanding officer would still be alive. If she hadn’t been so cautious at every turn he would still be alive and she wouldn’t have lost the man she’d hoped to have a future with.

She had turned down his invitation to go fishing several times, counting on that someday they’d be able to stay at the cabin without having to worry about rules and regulations. How little those rules and regulations helped her now.

For years, she had expected them to end up together once the Goa’uld were defeated and they could prioritize their personal lives again. Never before had the fight against the Goa’uld felt so unimportant.

Tears started rolling down her cheeks, the thought of never seeing him again was almost unbearable. Her feelings for him had grown from respect and almost hero-worship to a deeply rooted but forbidden love she had worked so hard to keep in check behind a carefully constructed wall.

The little moments through the years, where they had allowed themselves to lower their guard had both been frustrating because they couldn’t last, but had also given her energy to work even harder to keep the Earth out of harm’s way. There would be no more of those moments.

Sam could smell smoke, this place wasn’t safe. She let out a single sob and blinked away the tears, she had to move on. Her body protested when she got up on her feet, the pain from the Doctor’s latest invention as he had called it still wearing off.

She had to get rid of the node first, making sure no one could overpower her again as the Doctor just had, in case there was a second controller somewhere in the facility after all. She looked at the one she still had in her hand, luckily their scientist had kept the design simple.

Sam pushed one of the buttons and as expected the node deactivated completely, retracted its pins and fell to the floor behind her. For several seconds she felt dizzy until her nervous system regained full control over her body.

She turned around and stomped on the node, crushing it under her feet. She briefly considered bringing the controller back to the SGC to study it, but wouldn’t risk it falling into the hands of people who would try to make it work by designing a new node for it. Instead, she picked up the weapon, threw the controller on the floor and fired at it until it was shattered into pieces. It felt good knowing that particular controller wouldn’t hurt anyone ever again.

The Doctor hadn’t moved since Sam fired the weapon at him. She checked for a pulse but found none, he was dead. Of the team remained now only his assistant who could still be around somewhere in the facility, she would need to be careful searching for an exit.

She gave herself half a minute to look through the items and papers the Doctor dropped when he saw her in the corridor and she picked up what looked like a memory storage device. Perhaps it could give them some insight into who these people were and who they worked with.

The jumpsuit had no pockets, so she stuffed it in one of her socks and with the weapon in her hand she headed for the door.

\- o - o - o -

Sam walked back to the corner she had been about to turn when she had noticed the Doctor. The smell of smoke got worse and reluctantly she decided not to try to find Jack’s cell but instead find a way out of the facility as fast as possible.

The corridor ahead of her had been damaged during her confrontation with the Doctor, large chunks of the ceiling had fallen down and lay scattered on the floor. As she moved, a new explosion caused the lights to flicker. She wouldn’t have a chance at finding an exit if all light disappeared, time was running out.

She was approaching a section of the corridor where the wall to the left side had collapsed, taking some of the ceiling with it. She noticed what could look like a person lying under the debris and slowed down, keeping the weapon ready.

It was the Doctor’s assistant. She was dead, her skull crushed by a steel beam from the ceiling. Sam couldn’t manage to feel sorry for the woman, she had been just as active in what had taken place as the other members of the team. Instead Sam felt relief, she was alone in the facility now.

On the move again Sam turned a corner and further ahead she could see a door with a window where daylight was streaming in, she had finally found an exit. She wasn’t far from it when parts from the ceiling and the floor above it fell down, effectively blocking her way to the door.

Once the dust had settled a bit Sam carefully climbed the pile of debris and started removing chunks from it with her bare hands to clear a passageway. As she worked, the smell of smoke got worse. She considered her options, for now the air in this area was breathable and there was no chance she’d be able to find another way out. She just had to work faster.

\- o - o - o -

Sam felt like she was suffocating and it wasn’t because of the smoke or dust. The aliens had wanted her for the memory they assumed Jolinar had of the blueprint to their device. They had captured Daniel and the Colonel and used them against her to get what they wanted. Unwelcome memories of the horrible things she had felt the Doctor do to them flooded her mind. Now they were both dead. Because of her. She shook her head and wiped her nose with one of the sleeves, such thoughts were not helpful.

Her hands had started to bleed caused by many minor cuts from the rough edges of the debris, but she had been making steady progress and finally she deemed the passage wide enough. Bringing the weapon with her, she moved with great caution, climbed through head first and made it to the other side of the pile of debris safely.

A chunk of rubble gave after when Sam stepped on it on her way down the pile. She lost her balance and slipped the rest of the way landing hard on the floor, feeling a sharp pain shooting through her left ankle. Still sitting she examined it and was grateful when she found nothing broken.

She picked up the weapon she’d dropped when she fell and using the wall as support she got up and started moving towards the door.

\- o - o - o -

After two long minutes, Sam finally reached the door and she could hardly believe it when she found it unlocked. She swung it open and was greeted by a cool breeze. She took a deep breath, her lungs welcoming the fresh air that smelled like autumn.

Limping she made it to an area with grass and small trees a short distance from the facility. Once more an explosion shook the building and over her shoulder she watched how the section with the door she had just come out of collapsed.

Sam sat down on the grass with her back up against one of the trees, she was exhausted both physically and emotionally, and needed to rest. She had to find the Stargate if the planet even had one, but first she needed to rest, just a little bit.

\- o - o - o -

“Sir, over here,” the Marine shouted, “she’s lying over here!”

He came running as fast as he could and crouched down next to her, immediately feeling for a pulse. It was strong and steady. There were no apparent signs of injury except for the blood on both her hands, it would be up to Janet to figure out why Sam had passed out.

Jack pressed a button on his radio, “we got her,” relief obvious in his voice, “we got her!”


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The first thing Sam registered was the quiet, steady beeping sounds. The surface she was lying on was soft, the room she was in had a familiar smell and she could feel that the wide bracelets around her wrists were gone. Her still foggy brain connected the dots, she was back at the SGC. With a deep sigh, she let herself fall asleep again, she was home and she was safe.

\- o - o - o -

The next time Sam woke up, she felt clearer in her head. There was a distant pain in her left ankle and both her hands ached. Her mouth was dry, she tried to wet her lips with her tongue but it felt like parchment against parchment.

She slowly opened her eyes and was grateful for the dimmed lights. She looked down her right side and found a mass of grey hair resting on an arm placed on the bed. Without thinking she lifted her right hand, feeling a strong desire to gently run her fingers through the short strands of hair, wondering if she was still asleep after all.

“Jack?” she whispered.

As her fingertips made contact with the soft hair, he abruptly sat up and looked at her, “Carter! You’re awake!”

“Sir?” Sam stared at him, not quite believing what she was seeing, not daring to get her hopes up, “I… I thought you were dead.”

“Nope, Carter,” and with a twinkle in his eye he added, “if you’ve heard such a rumor it’s been greatly exaggerated.”

“But I felt it. I felt your heart stop,” she furrowed her brow.

“I’m… not sure what you’re talking about, Carter,” his expression grew serious, “you were abducted while we were on a routine mission to P3X-something and we’ve been out searching for you night and day since.”

“You’re alive,” she said quietly as tears were welling up in her eyes, “you’re alive.”

She tried to sit up but it was difficult with the IV inserted in her left hand. Jack must have sensed what she wanted to do, needed to do, “C’mere,” he said before helping her up in a sitting position and then hugging her tightly.

\- o - o - o -

”I thought I’d lost you,” she mumbled into his neck, a sob shaking her body.

He put his hands on her shoulders and gently pulled her back far enough so he could look into her eyes, “Carter, you’re the one who went missing, remember?”

Sam slowly nodded and then took a few sips from the cup of water he offered her. “What about Daniel? Is he… is he here as well?”

“Both Daniel and Teal’c are sound asleep in their quarters. We didn’t know when you’d wake up, Fraiser gave you some of the good stuff, and it’s been kinda hectic around here…” he trailed off.

Sam sighed and laid back down again, giving him a long, searching look.

“What?” His voice soft.

“I saw both you and Daniel on a monitor, you were… tortured, I watched him die,” she looked away.

“No such things happened to us, Carter, you were the only one taken. Doctor Lee and his team of geeks have been studying the doohickey you were looking at when you disappeared, they think it’s both a scanner and a transporter.”

“A scanner?” After a long pause she looked at him again, “that’s why Teal’c wasn’t there, he never entered the temple. What I saw must have been some kind of holographic projection, and that must be why they kept me in the cell the first two days, they needed time to program the holograms of you and Daniel based on the information from the scanner.”

Jack nodded but didn’t interrupt.

“The holograms were most likely partly controlled by the feedback from the patches they’d placed on my head…,” she shook her head in disbelief. “They tricked me into believing you were there,” she closed her eyes, feeling ashamed she’d fallen for it.

“Hey,” he took her right hand in his, “your dad told us what the Tok’ra knew about the place,” Jack mentioning her father made Sam look at him again. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’ve been in the hands of one of the most efficient interrogators ever known by the Tok’ra and given what we know about Goa’uld interrogations that says a lot,” Sam saw how his eyes were unfocused for a moment, as if revisiting unwelcome memories of his own.

“They needed me to finish the construction of a device Jolinar had been on a mission to stop. They never told me what kind of device it was and I didn’t ask, but given the components and how it was connected to the systems onboard the Al’kesh they made me work on, it could only be some kind of scanner.”

“It was a scanning device their lead scientist had invented capable of detecting Tok’ra tunnels from orbit, imagine how much that would be worth to any snakehead.”

“On her mission Jolinar killed him and probably others, and she destroyed the blueprint to prevent them from finishing the device.”

“Yeah, she did and the Tok’ra hadn’t expected that particular team to cause any trouble again.”

“I helped them, Sir, I accessed the memories of Jolinar and was able to recollect the memory of the blueprint, just as the Doctor had predicted I could.”

“The doctor?” Jack raised an eyebrow, “I’m guessing you mean their chief interrogator?”

Sam continued as if she hadn’t heard him, “but I only did it to buy time, trying to figure out a way to get the both of us out of there,” she hesitated, “interrogator? I guess that’s a better word for what he was.”

“Carter, we found a memory storage device stuffed inside one of your socks. Not only did they invent and sell new technology, they were also freelancers specialized in what they called “clean interrogations,” his voice filled with contempt.

“Clean?”

“In what looks like a sick sales pitch they’ve described their method as _using expert techniques to extract desired information_ and then returning the victim unharmed unless the person was supposed to,” Jack flexed the index and middle finger of his left hand, “disappear””.

“Oh, it was “clean”, Sir. He put a node at the base of my skull, that’s how he made me cooperate,” Sam wanted him to understand, “through it he was able to simulate the worst kinds of pain imaginable, both on me and who I thought were you and Daniel, I couldn’t let him do that to you.”

“You did what you had to do, Carter,” he squeezed her hand, “and since you managed to free yourself and destroy most of the Al’mik’toa facility before we arrived, I’d say you pretty much beat them at their own game,” he looked so proud of her.

“The Al’mik’toa facility?”

“The huge complex you left in ruins,” she could hear the smile in his voice.

“They never mentioned any names, not for themselves, not for the place.”

“The Tok’ra believe the facility was abandoned by those who once built it, the team simply moved in and did a little redecoration before taking advantage of it.”

“Hmm, yes, it could sound like something they would have done.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

“Carter, what made you think that I… that the hologram pretending to be me had died?”

“The node received a signal I believed was your heartbeat,” Sam tried to explain this to herself just as much as to Jack, “it must have been linked to the controller, the device they used to control the node. When they increased the level of pain I was to believe you were experiencing, it felt like your pulse was racing.”

“That’s some sophisticated manipulation.”

“It was much worse than if they’d just used the controller on me, Sir.”

“That’s why it works, Carter, you’ll do anything to stop them from hurting your team, friends or family.”

Sam nodded. “After I’d fired the weapon at the Doctor, there was a minor explosion nearby and after that I could no longer feel your heartbeat,” the feelings welled up again, Sam swallowed hard, “I thought you were killed by the explosion.”

“But I wasn’t,” his voice reassuring.

She shook her head, “no, instead the explosion must have damaged the instrument they hooked me up to when I was in the Doctor’s lab. It probably functioned as some sort of master computer processing all available information, controlling the holograms as well as being responsible for adjusting your pulse throughout the day and transmitting it to the node.”

“Sounds plausible to me.”

“Right now I can’t think of any other explanation. God, Sir, I’m so glad both you and Daniel are okay.”

“We are, Carter, and once you’re ready for it, we’ll debrief and you can tell us about everything that happened while you were held there.

“Yes, Sir.” Sam hesitated.

Jack cocked his head, “what’s on your mind?”

 “Sir, how did they know about our mission? How did they know where to plant the device they used to take me?”

“Those are questions General Hammond is trying hard to find answers for. So far he’s not ruling anything out, The NID or someone here at the SGC or even IOA, they do get copies of our mission roster.”

Sam wasn’t happy about not knowing who had handed her over to the man she still thought of as the Doctor, “so it could be anything from promises of influence or money to just someone who really hates the Tok’ra?”

“That probably covers it and Hammond won’t let this pass, he’ll let the investigation continue until we get the bastard who made this happen to you.”

Sam nodded, knowing he was right, the General was very protective of the people in his command.

“You gave us a good scare, you know.”

“I’m sorry, Sir.”

“Nah, you did good, Sam,” he squeezed her hand a final time before letting go of it and sitting back up straight again.

She ducked her head at the rare mention of her given name. “What’s going to happen now?”

“Fraiser said she wanted to keep you under observation for a few days and you’ll of course have to talk to MacKenzie,” he almost looked apologetic at the mention of the psychologist.

“The standard procedure then,” she gave him a tired smile.

“Pretty much, yeah, and you’ve sprained your ankle, so Fraiser has grounded you for now.”

A natural break from duty? Sam bit her lower lip and then decided to blurt it out before she lost the courage, “is the offer to go fishing still open?”

Jack quickly managed to mask his look of surprise with a nod and a smile, “ya sure, you betcha.”

Sam flashed him a smile of her own, “can’t wait.” This had been a wakeup call, they’d go fishing and she would make sure they did some talking as well, “can’t wait.”

 

Fin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s it, the end of my first story about Sam & Jack. Thank you for reading!


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